Neutrophil chemotaxis in juvenile chronic arthritis.

The leucocyte infiltration observed in histological lesions from patients with juvenile chronic arthritis (JCA) suggests the possibility of an abnormal leucochemotaxis. A group of 21 patients with JCA which fulfilled the Eular criteria (Oslo Symposium 77) were investigated with a paired group of 21 children. The chemotactic assay used was a microscopical direct observation technique. The chemotaxis of the patient's leucocytes was in the normal range, as was the chemotactic activity of their serum. However, their serum had an enhancing effect on the chemotaxis of normal leucocytes. An attempt to characterise this chemotactic enhancing factor was undertaken. It was not dialysable, heat stable, destroyed at 80 degrees C, nor precipitated by ammonium sulphate at 45%; it could be migrated on PAGE with albumin, and, by precipitation with a goat antihuman albumin antiserum, seemed to be bound to the albumin fraction. The function of this factor in the regulation of the inflammatory process is discussed.